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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. That must've been a ________________.
  16. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  17. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. march — the month
  3. rush — hurry
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. current — of water
  6. chest — of your body
  7. prune — to trim
  8. scale — size or range
  9. drill — army training
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. march — the month
  12. current — electric
  13. chest — a box
  14. cold — not warm
  15. rush — a thrill
  16. current — happening now
  17. rush — to hurry
  18. drill — a practice
  19. scale — in music
  20. chest — of your body
  21. prune — to trim
  22. drill — the tool
  23. cold — an illness
  24. cold — the Cold War

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com